Favorite son Weir leads in Canada
Showdown with Singh looms
The Canadian Open got the perfect gift for its 100th anniversary -- Mike Weir in the lead with a flawless round of 5-under-par 66, and a showdown with the No. 1 player in golf looming on the weekend.
Weir made Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ontario, sound like Sunday at Augusta National, sending the gallery into a frenzy with a 3-iron into 3 feet for eagle to take the lead and sticking a 5-iron close for birdie on his final hole to finish one shot ahead of Vijay Singh among those who finished 36 holes yesterday.
"Today could not have gone much better," Weir said. He was at 9-under 133 and in the lead at his national open for the first time.
In his first tournament since replacing Tiger Woods at No. 1 in the world, Singh certainly looked the part. After finishing his first nine holes in 40, he broke the Canadian Open record with a 28 on the front nine -- 7 under during one seven-hole stretch -- then added a 66 in the second round.
"I just started hitting it close, and all of a sudden I noticed it was 28," Singh said. "I was just trying to get it back as close to par as possible."
Because of a five-hour rain delay at the start of the tournament, 73 players had to return this morning to finish the second round. Phil Mickelson made two eagles to get to 1 over through nine holes, while David Duval was 1 under through 12.
LPGA -- Christina Kim shot a 6-under 65 and held a one-stroke lead over Annika Sorenstam and rookie Shi Hyun Ahn after the first round of the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic in Broken Arrow, Okla. Kim, coming off a second-place finish at the State Farm Classic, had seven birdies and a bogey.
Champions -- European Tour veteran Des Smyth and television analyst Gary McCord shot 7-under 65s to share the first-round lead at the Kroger Classic in Maineville, Ohio. Tom Kite, David Eger, and Doug Tewell were at 6 under, and six players were two strokes off the pace.
European -- Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell shot an 8-under 64 to take a three-stroke lead at the German Masters in Pulheim, where three European Ryder Cup players missed the cut. Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, and Paul McGinley made an early exit a week before their showdown with the Americans. 